


Coldhearted

by Arithese



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode: s01e20 Coldhearted, Gen, Hospital, Injury, Wally & Barry bonding, episode rewrite, injured
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2019-07-15 23:12:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16073348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithese/pseuds/Arithese
Summary: What happened after Wally fell unconscious in the episode 'Coldhearted?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been in my head for a while, actually from the moment I watched the episode (And I fell in love with it because it was Wally-centred.) And then a plot bunny attacked me and I just… I had to write it. So here is my new story, a different take on episode 20, Coldhearted.
> 
> Also, I named a lot of OC's in this story, otherwise it'd be so confusing. 'That woman' 'the blonde woman' etc. so bear with the names please.

November 11, 2010. 17: 57

"Take it, go!" Wally yells, arms quivering from strain and sweat dripping from under his cowl. Glass was digging into his skin and he felt numerous eyes on him. But he ignored it, he ignored his shaking arms, screaming in protest, and presented them the heart. The heart he protected, almost lost.

"Right, right" The surgeon said hastily, grabbing the heart from the young hero. He took a last, quick, glance at the speedster, debating whether to help him or save the queen. But the speedster had already decided for him, putting himself behind the queen.

So he nodded, and turned around to run off.

"Transplant team to OR two, stat!" He yelled, running off with the heart safely in his hands.

Wally groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as he balanced himself using his arms. All four of his limbs were trembling heavy and he felt glass digging into his skin on various places. Then, he felt his arms give in, and he felt himself nearing the ground fast, never able to comprehend it fully, blacking out before he could even touch the ground.

The last thing he heard were the disappearing footsteps of the surgeons.

YJ

Everyone seemed to be frozen as the young hero fell down, laying on the ground in such a vulnerable position. Sure, a hero had been hurt multiple times, injured countless times. And yet this was different. There had always been a villain to threaten them, or a teammate to protect them.

Now, they were all alone with a vulnerable and injured speedster. No threat, just him and civilians.

"Kid Flash!" One of the civilians called out, rushing over to the fallen hero. The woman, who was barely out of her teens skipped to a halt, falling onto her knees and hovering her hands over the ginger.

She gasped slightly, it wasn't uncommon to spot a hero nowadays, even less uncommon to spot the speedsters close by, or talk to them since they were pretty social. But this was probably the first time this had really happened.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, grimly noticing the blood that was seeping through his uniform. "Somebody get a doctor, he's hurt" She ordered, and only then people seemed to start moving again. Two people were running off in different directions, finding doctors like the woman, Sarah had ordered.

More people started to approach the fallen hero, all looking upon the young hero, a hero who looked so much more vulnerable, and so young actually in his current state.

Another woman slowly crouched down on the other side, reaching for KF's cowl with a determined expression on her face. The fabric felt weird, different than she'd expected but before she could peel the cowl off completely, a hand wrapped around her wrist.

"What are you doing?!" Sarah hissed, jerking the hand away from KF's face.

"Oh come on, this is probably a one-time situation. Don't tell me you're curious who he is" The woman, Ashley, replies while bringing her other arm up to the cowl again, hooking her thumb under the cowl and jostling the cowl enough to display some of Wally's freckles.

Sarah narrows her eyes, pulling the arm she was holding towards her, causing the woman to lose her balance.

"I am, but there's a reason he's wearing a disguise in the first place."

Without missing a beat, Sarah stands up, careful that she wasn't touching the speedster as she stepped over him. "He protected us countless times, risked his life to save others. And we have no right to expose him just because you -any of you- are curious."

"Lighten up a bit, we'll keep it a secret" A man suddenly spoke up, also walking up to the hero but not actually making a move on the cowl.

"You're risking his identity, most likely the rest of their identities, and our lives at the same time. So back off" A young woman, Abby, speaks up and Sarah shoots her a grateful look. The man who had just spoken glances at the two women for a moment before dashing to the fallen hero.

"Oh no you don't" Abby yells reaching out to stop him but her fingers merely brushed over the clothes on his back. But she quickly recovered and reached out again, this time with her fist. She hisses in pain as her knuckles connect with the man's face, sending him stumbling sidewards.

"You're sick, all of you! Look at him, he's a freaking teen risking his life almost every day and all you care about is knowing who's behind the mask" Abby grinds out while holding her now throbbing hand, giving the man another harsh push so he falls over.

"If you're not here to help him, then kindly fuck off" Sarah butts in, giving Ashley a rough shove as well. Ashley gave a last glance at the fallen hero but then turned around, deciding it wasn't worth the possible fight she'd get in.

"That was.. Intense" Abby whispers as she and Sarah kneel next to Kid Flash, both on another side so no one was able to reach for his cowl.

"Thanks for sticking up for me" Sarah returns and reaches out for KF again, lifting his head slightly. Her expression softens slightly, looking down at the cowl that was now slightly out of place due to the struggle. His freckles were still slightly visible but she quickly repositioned his cowl again.

Just in time, because the moment she did a doctor and a nurse came running in, two civilians following them.

"Out of the way please, make room" The nurse called out in a calmed tone, gesturing for everyone to scatter. A bed was wheeled next to Kid Flash and Sarah took a few steps back, letting the doctors do their work.

Ever since heroes started to arise more and more it became mandatory for doctors to at least know the basics about every superhero so they would be able to treat them in cases like this. So she knew that he was in good hands, but still….

"Poor kid" A bystander whispered as they quickly wheeled away the red haired hero.

YJ

November 12, 2010. 06:13 (Seattle)

Pain was the first thing that I registered, not the foreign room I was in, not the weird bed I was laying on, not my ripped costume so they could push needles into my skin, not even my uncle sitting right next to my bed and holding my hand tightly, looking at me with worrying eyes.

I took a deep but shuddering breath, willing the pain to go away. And much to my surprise, it dulled slightly and I opened my eyes to look at my uncle again.

"Hey kiddo" He whispered and I groaned slightly, shifting uneasily but it only caused the pain to flare up again. "Easy there, you got banged up pretty bad"

I nod weakly, admitting defeat and lying down again.

"What happened? Did the girl make it?"

At this a small smile appears on uncle Barry's face, though only his mouth was visible as he still had his cowl on. "She did" I gape at my uncle, feeling the familiar sense of pride blossoming up again.

"You saved an entire country kiddo, I'm proud" I beamed at him at the comment, laughing as Barry ruffled my hair affectionately before going serious again. Barry seems to catch on as he directs his hand towards my hand again, squeezing it slightly to give me comfort.

"Wait.. what happened after I passed out?" I ask, my arm quickly going up to touch the cowl that was still thankfully on my face. I hissed at the movement, feeling the stitches in both my arm and back pull at the moment. Uncle Barry put a comforting hand on my arm, placing it on the bed again.

Passing out in front of civilians equalled death nowadays. Ever since heroes started popping up more frequently a decade ago people started getting curious, wanting to know who was beneath the masks, and that only intensified when social media and protégés were introduced.

There were a lot of rumours out there. Relationships between heroes, going from rich billionaires (Which was dangerously close to the truth with a few heroes) to homeless people who wanted revenge on criminals. Even going as far as rumouring their relationships, like relationship relationship.

Oh, the articles about rumoured relationships were endless.

Point was, the civilians were curious. They wanted to know our identities. And passing out meant that the civilians would get the chance to still that curiosity.

"They weren't as curious as I thought they'd be" Uncle Barry says, before smiling reassuringly. "A few tried to take a look but from what I've heard others stood up for you. Man, girls sure know how to pack a punch, one of the guys left with a swollen eye"

For the first seconds, and throughout Barry's explanation I could only beam, knowing that civilians valued my identity, and the ultimately the identity of others, over their own curiosity. That they'd stand up for me instead of grasping the first opportunity to find out, an opportunity that was handed to them on a silver plate.

And that I wasn't exposed as Kid Flash.

I smirked after a while. "Hey, girls know how to punch." I defended, faking a cough and saying "Artemis", followed by another cough to emphasise it.

"Well your aunt would surely agree" Barry mutters, rubbing his arm with fake-hurt. I grin at the comment, knowing what uncle Barry was talking about. Barry and I may be speedsters, but in the house, aunt Iris was the boss. And nobody dared to disobey her orders.

"Speaking of which, she still has your birthday present" Barry suddenly changes the subject. "And I still owe you dinner somewhere" I laugh at the mention, somewhere. Which meant somewhere around the world. It was a tradition we came up with when I got my powers. On my, and Barry's birthday we'd run to a certain country of choice, and eat there.

Granted I didn't have my power very long yet and sure, I had probably visited most of the countries in Europe, and visited most of the states in America, but never really visited it, take time to look around in the cities and enjoy it like typical tourists.

"No offense Flash, but right now I just want to go home"

Barry laughs behind his cowl. "Kinda figured, can you stand?" He asks and I nod automatically, though when I try to lift myself again my arms immediately start to tremble again, and embarrassingly Barry has to help me up. And still I cannot support myself alone, legs quivering and pain shooting up my back, stitches tightening uncomfortably.

And while it was embarrassing, I was glad Barry was supporting me because otherwise I'd surely be on the ground right now.

"Don't be so hard on yourself" Barry says softly, obviously sensing the distress I was in.

I sigh, manoeuvring myself behind Barry. "Just get it over with, I wanna go home" I say and Barry squats slightly before helping me climb on his back. There was slight discomfort as I moved my arms, as well as a few stitches pulling again but I eventually managed to wrap my legs around his waist, and my arms around his neck.

Still, Flash hooked his arms under my knees so I wouldn't have to bear the whole weight myself, for which I was grateful.

I smile drowsily, leaning my cheek against Barry's back. "Tell them thanks.. the doctors" I mumble and Barry laughs light-heartedly at my comment before speeding down the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joining the internet hype has probably been the best and worst decision of my life. It allowed me to get in contact with social media, this site and of course you guys. But the worst decision because I now know what I miss :( The hype around Halloween, I know it's there. But sadly we don't celebrate it here in The Netherlands D:
> 
> Last year we had an exchange to Wales, guess what day we went back home? On the morning of Halloween -.-  
> But we have lovely traditions as well, and we invented Christmas :D But we celebrate it entirely different.
> 
> Either way, the second part of the story Coldhearted! With a bit of Dutch culture thrown into it :D Hope you like it!

November 13, 2010. 16:52

"Wally, hurr-" Iris started to yell but before the redhead could finish her sentence a blurry figure sped towards her, stopping mere inches from her.

"You called?" Wally said, grinning brightly up to his aunt. Iris rolled her eyes in annoyance at the behaviour of her nephew but couldn't help the grin that was creeping up her face.

"Alright speedy, your uncle is waiting" Irish shushed him, pulling Wally into a quick hug. "I expect you two to be back at least tomorrow but only because it's Saturday, and stay safe. Don't think I could take another hospital visit"

"Don't worry babe, we'll be careful" Barry butts in, causing Iris to release her nephew, who sent his uncle a grateful look. "You ready to go kiddo?" He asked, directed his gaze to the younger redhead, who nodded in return, pulling his cowl fully over his face; Kid Flash replacing Wally West.

"Where are we going exactly?" Barry asks, looking over at his nephew with a raised eyebrow.

"The Netherlands"

Barry kept his eyebrow raised but didn't comment on Wally's choice. He had a habit to pick weird places, so Barry was kinda expecting him to say something like that. "Alright, race ya!" Barry quickly announced before they both took off, fast enough not to alert any neighbours when they left the house.

And they ran, accelerating with every second that passed until they were at their greatest speed. At least, until Wally was. Barry still had something left to give but otherwise he'd lose sight of his nephew, and he promised his wife that he wouldn't. Not after going through the experience of being called by Batman, saying his nephew was in the hospital.

Perks of being a speedster was that he healed fast, but that didn't take away the fact that it was scary to hear it.

They ran for a good hour until they reached the east side of America, stepping onto the water and zipping across it without any difficulty whatsoever. Barry looked backwards at his nephew, delighted to see the huge smile on his face while he accelerated just the tiny bit, laughing as the water went everywhere around him.

Barry snickered lightly to himself, the first time they had tried this it wasn't a big success, lightly spoken. Ending with a drenched Wally, and a nasty reddish bruise on his chest and stomach from slipping. But neither of them admitted defeat, or Wally's defeat in this case, and they tried until Wally succeeded as well.

Which was pretty much a must if they even wanted to do this, sure there were zeta tubes to a few key places outside America, but that would negate the whole purpose of the trip, and it wouldn't be as fun as just running across.

Eventually they passed England, avoiding the country altogether and running directly over to the Netherlands instead, stopping when they reached the first sign of shelter they could find and skidding to a halt. The beach was heard from a distance and the cold wind whipped around them.

Both Wally and Barry were panting slightly but nothing too major.

"So.." Barry started, straightening himself and looking at his nephew. "Can I give you my present now or..?" He dragged out the sentence, leaving Wally to fill in the last part.

"What do you think?" Wally said while cocking a smile.

"Thought so" Barry said before reaching for the backpack that he was carrying, which was really weird, seeing the flash with a backpack, and taking out a small, rectangular box messily wrapped up with wrapping paper. Wally grinned and took the present, quickly ripping of the paper and revealing a little box mostly used for...

"Uhm Flash?" Wally started, remembering to use their hero names while they were in costume. "I think you have to give this to Aunt Iris, not me" He said, and Barry barked out a laugh at the comment, clapping a hand on Wally's shoulder.

"It's not a wedding ring kid, besides your aunt and I are already married. Now open it" He said, nudging his nephew before Wally complied, opening the little box and gasping in surprise.

"No way!" He squealed, taking out the golden ring and looking at his uncle. "You're giving me a ring?!" Not any ring, but a speedster ring nonetheless. It was something Wally often wondered about when he was obsessed with the place, in fact, it was the first thing he asked his uncle when he discovered he was the Flash, after asking to be a sidekick of course.

But Barry never explained it thoroughly, and he never received one while being Kid Flash.

"I thought you deserved one, turning 16 and having your own team" Barry explained and Wally grinned, handing the ring to his uncle so he could show how it worked.

November 13, 2010. 18:02

After having been explained how the ring works they changed out of their uniforms, Wally grinning like an idiot as he continuously eyed at the ring that was on his finger, and on Barry's. And the two of them walked into Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands.

"So, anything special on your mind?"

"All you can eat" Wally replies with a grin, pointing at the several restaurants that were advertising 'all you can eat'. Barry shrugs, shaking his head knowingly.

"It's your birthday present, you decide" And true to his word, Wally picked out a quiet all you can eat restaurant and they quickly got approached by a relatively young waitress.

"Are you familiar with the concept of all you can eat?" She asks as she directed them to their table. Barry nodded, sitting down on the opposite side of his nephew.

"We are, thank you" Barry replies, ignoring the wide and knowing grin that was on Wally's face. Of course they were, all you can eat and speedsters mixed well together, for obvious reason. Other restaurants just didn't quite cut it as well as the all you can eat ones did.

"I will be back shortly to bring you the card and to take your drinks" The waitress announced with a smile before she left.

"We have to come back her next year" Wally suddenly said and the blond man across the table looked at his nephew with a strange look.

"You know the whole plan of doing this was to be a tourist for once instead of racing through it. Not picking the same country twice" Barry said softly, cautious to raise his voice too high so others could easily hear him. Wally snorted slightly.

"I know that, I didn't mean on our birthday or anything" He quickly said. "I'm just saying, I've read that two days ago was some sort of celebration here, my birthday actually. The 11th of November, and it sounded really fun to do. And I thought, why only do this on our birthdays?"

"A celebration of what?"

"It's something similar to Halloween -did you know they don't celebrate Halloween here?-" Wally interrupted himself and Barry gasped mockingly, but he was still surprised to hear it. Halloween was a big celebration at their house every year, even if Wally had only done it once in his life, and that was when he was already 12.

It was still a big holiday for the Allen family.

Stupid parents. Barry thought but shook the thought away. Still, it was weird to think that such a big holiday wasn´t celebrated somewhere else, especially since it was a concept known in the entire world. Though it certainly wasn't new information, or the only country where this was the case.

"Well they don't, instead they celebrate something on my birthday instead and…" He stopped himself as the waiter returned, a little booklet in her hand to take their orders.

"Hello" She politely said but Wally caught her attention.

"Do you know anything about Sint Maarten?" Wally asked, causing the woman to frown at him before brightening again.

"Oh you mean Sint Maarten, yea" She replied, uttering a different pronunciation to the word. "It's similar to Halloween I suppose but without the scary stuff. Kids make their own lamps, from milk cartons or something like that, and they go to other houses with a bunch of kids and sing songs for candy. Instead of saying Trick or Treat"

The woman explained and Barry and Wally both listened closely to the description.

"Don't you miss celebrating Halloween?" Wally asks with a slight frown but the waitress laughed politely.

"I don't miss it because I've never experienced it but I think all of us wonder what Halloween is like in America, you are from America right?"

"We are" Barry agrees. "Thank you for telling the story by the way"

The woman cocked her head to the side with a genuine smile. "It's my pleasure" She said. "Would you like to order something to drink first?" She asked, gesturing to the pen that was in here hand, but ultimately leaving the decision up to the two speedsters.

"I would like a beer please" Barry said.

"Small or big?" The woman asked.

"Let's go for a big one" Barry said and looked at Wally, who in turn waited before the waiter was finished with writing down the order on her notepad. Once she was done she turned to the ginger.

"I'll have a tequila please" Wally said with a grin, ignoring the surprised gasp from his uncle as he showed his ID to the waitress, who nodded upon seeing his age.

"What do you think you're doing?" Barry hissed once the waiter was gone, leaning in close. "It may be your birthday but you're sixteen, not twenty-one"

Wally grinned, mockingly leaning in as well. "The drinking age in the Netherlands is sixteen Uncle Barry" He said, before creating some distance between him and his shell-shocked uncle, who was gaping at his nephew with his mouth wide open.

"You little.." He started before laughing. "Oh you certainly are Iris' nephew" He said while barking out another laugh. And Wally joined him before Barry turned serious again.

"Just because you have a high metabolism doesn't mean Iris won't find out" He said threatening and Wally gulped slightly, putting a hand on his heart with fake betrayal.

"You wouldn't"

"Consequences my son" Barry said in a serious voice, stroking an imaginary beard.

"You're no fun" Wally fake pouted, but smiled again, because let's face it, he couldn't be mad at his Uncle too long. And he would enjoy the moment for now. Until they both had to face the wrath of Aunt Iris. Because they knew fully well that she wouldn't be happy with either speedster.

"So who suggested it, Roy or Dick?" Barry asked when the waitress set down the first drinks and left again.

Wally smirked, taking an experimental sip "Both did"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you do celebrate it, I hope you have a wonderful Halloween!
> 
> Edit: Someone commented on this story on FF.net. The drinking age in the Netherlands right now is 18 years, they changed it from 16 a couple of years ago. But in 2010 it was still 16 years old.


End file.
